Myopites shirakii (Munro, 1935)
Munro (1935) described <i>Euribia </i>(<i>Asimoneura</i>) <i>shirakii </i>from Taiwan based on a single female, without an illustration.<br>Since then, it has not been re-examined or redescribed, so Norrbom et al. (1999), Freidberg & Norrbom (1999) and Korneyev & Ovchinnikova (2004) assigned it to the genus <i>Asimoneura </i>Strobl based on the combination of the long labellum and widely opened cell r4+5 as described by Munro.<div>In 2012, I had an opportunity to study the holotype briefly and photographed it by a compact digital camera through the eyepiece of a dissecting microscope. Despite the poor quality, the picture clearly show the head shape and body coloration more typical to <i>Myopites </i>and <i>Rhynencina,</i> but the wing pattern is entirely lacking, as in the Afrotropical <i>M. delottoi</i> Munro, 1955. It certainly does not belong therefore to <i>Asimoneura</i> (which always have short oral cavity and entirely black body) and apparently forms a sister-group to the Afrotropical and Mediterranean species of the genus <i>Myopites</i>, which possess apically narrowed cell r4+5, but in my opinion, can be included in <i>Myopites</i>.</div><div>The male of <i>M. shirakii </i>remains unknown, and the key characters separating it from <i>Rhynencina </i>and <i>Stamnophora </i>remain unknown. Freidberg & Norrbom (1999) reported about several undescribed Afrotropical species of <i>Myopites </i>and <i>Stamnophora</i>, which<i> </i>show odd combination of key characters; the limits and diagnoses of those genera apparently need further clarification after more detailed description of all members and phylogenetic analysis based on molecular data.</div><div><div><br></div><div>Freidberg, A. & Norrbom, A. L. 1999. <i>In:</i> M. Aluja, and A.L.Norrbom, eds. <i>Fruit Flies (Tephritidae): Phylogeny and Evolution of Behavior</i>. CRC Press, Boca Raton: 581-627.</div><div><div><br></div><div>Norrbom, A. L., Carroll L. E., Thompson F. C., White I. M., Freidberg A. 1999. Systematic database of names. <i>In</i>: F.C.Thompson, ed. Fruit Fly <i>Expert System and Systematic Information Database</i>. <i>Myia</i>, <b>9</b>(1998)<b>, </b>Backhuis Publishers, Leiden: 65—299.</div></div><div> </div><div>Munro, H. K. 1935. Observations and comments on the Trypetidae of Formosa. <i>Arb. Physiol. Angew. Entomol. Berlin-Dahlem</i> 2: 195-203, 253-271.</div></div>
